Factors associated with the use of psychotropic drugs by students at a brazilian public university.

Abstract

Background: Motivation for the study. College students are exposed to numerous stressful events, which predispose them to problems such as depression and anxiety, leading to increased consumption of psychotropic medications. Main findings. The use of psychotropic medications was reported by 12.0% of students, being higher among those with access to health insurance and diagnosed with depression and anxiety, as well as among those who reported using illicit drugs and who were dissatisfied with their academic performance. We found lower consumption of psychotropic drugs among women who consumed alcoholic beverages. Implications. The evidence from this study may support actions to promote not only rational drug use campaigns, but also measures to minimize and help students with the stress of academic life.

Objective.: To analyze the consumption of psychotropic drugs and their associated factors in university students, stratified by sex.

Materials and methods.: We conducted a cross-sectional study with undergraduate students of a public university in Brazil. The instrument was an online self-administered questionnaire. The outcome variable was the use of psychotropic drugs, based on the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, and the exposure variables were socio-demographic, academic and health-related. The association between the exposure variables and the outcome was verified by calculating prevalence ratios and their 95% confidence intervals.

Results.: We found that 12.2% (n=396) of the 3238 participants used psychotropic drugs; most were women (78.3%). The prevalence of psychotropic drug use was higher among students with access to health insurance, diagnosis of depression and diagnosis of anxiety. It was also higher in the group of women who reported using illicit drugs in the last three months and in the group of men who reported being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their academic performance. We detected low frequency of psychotropic drug use among women who consume alcohol on a weekly basis.

Conclusions.: Our results show a higher frequency of psychotropic medication use in females, as well as in students with access to health insurance, diagnosis of depression and diagnosis of anxiety, regardless of sex.